Hands On Thoughts

The Sony a6000 has been out for a while, but I have had a bunch of requests to review this camera so I finally broke down and did it. Based on the suggestions of some of my blog readers, I also decided to go with the hot Sony Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Zeiss Lens (shown below):

I was a big fan of the Sony NEX-7 and A7R, so I was right at home using this camera (or should I say, cursing the menu again?!!!). In fact, this camera was so much like the NEX-7 that I started to having feelings of déjà vu!

Now, I loved the NEX-7, but I just thought it was way too expensive. When Sony released this camera that functionally was similar (and in some ways superior), but for half the price many people started to wonder if this was the time for them to jump into Sony’s e-mount mirrorless lineup. Honestly I was so busy with other products to review, the holidays, travel, photo shoots and more that I missed this product release. However, after spending the last few days with it I’m now seeing why my readers wanted to know more – I’m very impressed with what I just downloaded from the SD card!

Functionally this camera is very similar to the NEX-7, but everything about it (like its improved ISO) scream the next generation hardware. As a result, I’m not going to go into too much depth here as honestly most who get to this review by now have already done their research and are looking for more opinions! Feel free to check both out on B&H’s web site if you need more geek data. What I will tell you is that all of my NEX-7’ body feedback applies here – both good and bad. While there are some improvements to the physical button layout, the menus are just as frustrating as ever.

The body design is nice and functional, and the electronic viewfinder is excellent. Overall if you’ve used Sony’s before, then expect more of the same – both good and bad. If you haven’t, you’ll find the menu system maddening, but this model has enough programmable physical buttons that you can get through most of the frustrations by setting things up the way you like it. The location of format will still drive you insane, and you’ll have to pay attention to the questionable shutter speeds it likes to choose, but otherwise its quite competent.

While I haven’t held them side by side, the NEX-7 did feel more solid and durable whereas this feels more entry level in build quality. However, the control behavior is similar, so I wouldn’t be able to justify the NEX-7 price for better build quality.

To get more feedback on my thoughts of the body, see my NEX-7 review as all of that feedback applies here too (including the flash). The only caveat is that I’ve warmed up to this viewfinder whereas I wasn’t in awe of the one on the NEX-7 – maybe I’ve changed.

Real World Shots

The following images come straight from in-camera JPEG’s using the camera default noise reduction settings. Most camera settings are the default with the exception of RAW+JPEG, a desired White Balance (only Shade or AWB), and a desired focus point. , The default creative style was used for all of these photos.

All images are copyright Ron Martinsen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not save, print, edit, modify or otherwise use any images featured in this article or the gallery without expressed written permission.

f/22 @ 31 mm, 0.6s, ISO 100, No FlashTaken under a busy road, but you’d never know it from here. f/22 was soft for sure, but still a totally usable shot that I think most people would be satisfied with. The shadow detail was very good as well!

f/5.6 @ 16 mm, 1/60, ISO 640, No FlashThis is one of those horrible photos geeks like me take to admire the detail this sensor and lens combo could capture. Terrible photo, but cool detail on those little pine cones huh?!

f/4 @ 22 mm, 1/60, ISO 160, No FlashWhile Kai didn’t give one of his million dollar smiles, I was in awe of the detail and color of this shot (taken with shade white balance like all of the landscape photos here)

f/5.6 @ 16 mm, 1/60, ISO 320, No FlashThanks to the cropped sensor, you can get a lot depth of field with f/5.6 over full frame so that combined with a sharp foreground image had me favoring the f/5.6 shots over the f/7.1 & up shots. See below to see the softer results at f/16 below and compare it with this to see what I mean.

f/16 @ 16 mm, 1/60, ISO 2500, No FlashDespite having more depth of field, the f/16 image begins to get so soft that it doesn’t draw you in like the one above (which almost invites you to jump in your display and go for a walk down the path)

f/22 @ 70 mm, 0.8s, ISO 100, No FlashThis water wasn’t moving too fast so it isn’t quite as compelling as I’d like, but I was repeatedly satisfied with the results I was getting from this lens and camera combo – even at the softest lens aperture

f/6.3 @ 21 mm, 1/60, ISO 400, No FlashFace detection and good stabilization made it so easy that our 5 year old son could snatch this shot of us – handheld! (Now of we could get mom to relax while he shoots, we’d probably get a good shot – ha, ha)

f/11 @ 16 mm, 1/50, ISO 3200, No FlashJust kidding – both this and the photo above show that you don’t have to fear large f-stop numbers with this camera and lens combo even with people – the results will often be plenty satisfying for typical social media posts and 4x6 prints

f/4 @ 32 mm, 1/60, ISO 2000, No FlashThis was good, but when I compare it to my baseline image taken with a D600 (here) you start to see the dynamic range limits as well as the wider depth of field compared to a real DSLR. This is a great result for sure, but this did remind me why I still prefer full-frame DSLR’s!

f/5.6 @ 17 mm, 1/40, ISO 3200, No FlashEven entry level DSLR’s have failed miserably at capturing the range of tones in this shot, but the a6000 did an admirable job. The fact that this was handheld at ISO 3200 made me even more happy with the out of camera result

f/4 @ 34 mm, 1/60, ISO 320, No FlashWhile wide angle lenses don’t offer background distraction blurring bokeh, this lens certainly offered super sharp images when wide open and the a6000 had gorgeous color straight out of the camera when the white balance was set to shade or daylight

All images are copyright Ron Martinsen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not save, print, edit, modify or otherwise use any images featured in this article or the gallery without expressed written permission.